M2M Committee launches communicator drive

By Chrissy Kline

On the weekend of Feb. 18, a parade of committee members could be seen pouring through the aisles of the Truck Trim shop over the C-Crew weekend. This was the kick-off weekend for the communicator drive for the Member to Member Committee, and when deciding where to start first, President Jason Starr wanted to visit his old stomping grounds to get started.

“A strong Member to Member network with dedicated communicators can be a powerful tool as a committeeman, something I learned in my own shop, and know that if that can be expanded into shops all across the plant it can only strengthen our membership and local,” Starr said.

The Member to Member Committee will serve as the central hub for communication within the local, like spokes on a wheel they will strengthen the union and provide support from the core leadership to each individual member serving as the outside of the wheel. It serves to answer the who, what, where, when, why, and how of communicating important information to our members. It also gives us feedback on the opinions and outlook on issues that our members may have.

Rick Coleman, the current district committeeman for the area, helped identify communicators while the Member to Member Committee and chairperson Erica Eckart engaged members with informative flyers and surveys while they worked. “I’m really excited about this opportunity and can’t wait to see how all this ties together,” Coleman said during the event.

For many new members of the committee, this was their first time working together as a group for the local. “I love the way the committee was able to come together and accomplish what at first seemed like a very big task. I’m so proud of the overall enthusiasm and willingness to take the steps to attack our first big project together as a team,” Eckart said.

Over the course of the weekend committee members and new communicators passed out several flyers and conducted surveys to get a better understanding of how members prefer to communicate, their levels of participation, the types of events that they want to see more of, and then a verbal survey of local agreement questions was performed during the wrap-up.

“I had a lot of great conversations on the floor with people that were eager to help us come up with ways to better serve our local,” Eckart said. “There was a lot of energy and excitement each day when we came to the floor and that was awesome to see.”

The objective of the Member to Member program is to establish a network of communication within our local that enables us to transmit information effectively and accurately from the source to our members. This information could be anything from an invitation to an event by another committee, a bulletin from the president, chairman and Bargaining Committee on current plant issues, a flyer on contractual issues, or a leaflet on upcoming events.

The next stop for the Member to Member Committee is going to be on the Transit side of the plant. As this program is expanded, if you are interested in becoming a communicator in your area, contact your district committeeperson and let them know.